Prospect Talent Score

Probability of Success

History

2006-07: Tyson Barrie appeared in seven games with Kelowna (WHL), his first season with the club; he registered three assists in his short stint with the Rockets.

2007-08: This marked Barrie’s first full season with the Kelowna Rockets (WHL), which saw Barrie net nine goals and 43 points in 64 appearances. He also racked up a career-high 32 penalty minutes.

2008-09: Barrie, consistently improving his numbers, set career-highs in several categories this season, including goals (12), assists (40) and points (52). He also excelled in the playoffs, tallying 18 points (4g+14a) in 22 games on Kelowna’s road to the WHL Championship title.

2009-10: Barrie was the leading scorer for Kelowna and won the WHL's Bill Hunter Trophy as the league's top defenseman in his third season with the Rockets. Barrie scored 19 goals with a team-leading 53 assists and was +11 with 31 PMs despite skating in 63 of 72 games for Kelowna. In 12 playoff games he scored 3 goals with 8 assists and was -2 with 6 PMs. Barrie was named to the WHL First All-Star team.

2010-11: Barrie served as a captain for Kelowna and was selected to the WHL's First All-Star Team for the second straight year and represented Canada at the 2011 U20 World Junior Championship. Barrie led all Rockets defensemen with 11 goals and 47 assists skating in just 54 games and was +4 with 34 PMs. Despite finishing first in their division, the Rockets fell to Portland in the second round of the playoffs. In 10 playoff contests, Barrie was the Rockets' second-leading scorer behind forward Shane McColgan (NYR) with 2 goals and 9 assists. He skated in all seven games for silver medal-winning Canada at the junior championships and was +6 with 1 goal and 2 assists.

2011-12: Barrie made his NHL debut in February as a 20-year-old and skated in 10 games for the Avalanche. He was also selected to play in the AHL All-Star game while skating for Colorado AHL affiliate Lake Erie. Barrie had no points and was -2; averaging 17:38 minutes of ice time during his time with the Avalanche. Barrie led Lake Erie defensemen with 32 points in 49 games, scoring 5 goals with 27 assists, and was -1 with 24 penalty minutes. The Monsters finished third in the North Division, one point behind Rochester and Houston for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

2012-13: Barrie shuffled between Colorado and AHL Lake Erie in his second season – seeing significant ice time with the Avalanche. In 32 games with Colorado he averaged a team-high 21:34 minutes of ice time. Barrie scored 2 goals with 11 assists and was -11 with 10 penalty minutes. Colorado missed the playoffs — finishing last in the Northwest Division. Barrie scored 7 goals with 22 assists and was +2 with 7 penalty minutes in 38 games for Lake Erie. The Monsters were third in the North Division but missed the AHL playoffs.

Talent Analysis

Barrie is a smooth-skating defenseman and a formidable playmaker. Though not especially physical and of modest stature, he is comfortable in his own zone and is blessed with great vision and soft hands. The 2010 WHL Defenseman of the Year is also a natural leader.

Future

Barrie spent some time in the minors in 2013-14, but has spent a majority of the season so far with the Avalanche. He has yet to find his scoring touch at either level, but remains a solid puck-moving defenseman. \

Photo: Though the Columbus Blue Jackets added several important prospects this past off-season, none were more prominent than defenseman Ryan Murray, who was selected second overall in the 2012 NHL Draft. (Derek Leung/Getty Images)

Below is the bottom third of the NHL Team Rankings in terms of prospects as voted on by Hockey's Future staff. To determine the ranking, each team's entire prospect pool was taken into consideration. For reference, just the top five prospects are listed. To be eligible, a prospect must meet HF's prospect criteria. The rankings are done twice a year, with the second scheduled to be published in the Spring.

Tyson Barrie, who made his NHL debut in 2011-12 with the Avalanche, is one of several promising defensive prospects in the Avalanche system. (courtesy of Dustin Bradford/Icon SMI)

The Colorado Avalanche’s defensive and goaltending prospects occupy eight of its top 10 spots. From offensive-minded defensemen to stay at home defenders, the Avs’ future on the blue line is looking bright. The biggest problem Colorado is facing is a lack of premium offensive talent in its system. Michael Sgarbossa and Joey Hishon have the potential to be impact NHL players, but the list ends there. Colorado is stacked with undersized forwards who consistently get hurt playing too physically on the ice.